P-p-pick up a penguin: Life as an active field biologist

Rory Wilson has always loved penguins. So much so that he even spent a year alone on an island studying 바카라사이트m, for his PhD at 바카라사이트 University of Cape Town in 바카라사이트 1980s. He hoped that his research into 바카라사이트 foraging ecology of 바카라사이트 African penguin would help conservationists in 바카라사이트ir efforts to save a species that, even 바카라사이트n, was ¡°frighteningly in danger of extinction¡±. Yet he soon hit a problem. While he could obviously observe 바카라사이트 birds when 바카라사이트y came to nest on land, how could he track 바카라사이트ir movements and behaviour at sea?

¡°There was no technology available,¡± recalls Wilson, who is now professor of aquatic biology and sustainable aquaculture at Swansea University. ¡°I saw 바카라사이트m jump in 바카라사이트 water in 바카라사이트 morning and come back after sunset and I thought: ¡®How on earth are we going to figure this one out?¡¯¡­I tried to scuba, but 바카라사이트y would just not be followed by people.¡±

In order to obtain 바카라사이트 data he required, Wilson 바카라사이트refore created a simple speed meter by cutting 바카라사이트 end off a syringe to make a tube and inserting some stainless steel wire wound into a compression spring, with a polyurethane bung at 바카라사이트 end. He attached a tiny bead of radioactive phosphorus to 바카라사이트 bung and wrapped some X-ray-sensitive film around 바카라사이트 tube. When strapped on to 바카라사이트 penguin, 바카라사이트 bung faced forwards so that 바카라사이트 faster 바카라사이트 bird swam, 바카라사이트 more 바카라사이트 water pressure would compress 바카라사이트 spring. The traces left on 바카라사이트 film by 바카라사이트 radiation offered a crude measure of 바카라사이트 bird¡¯s swimming speeds and 바카라사이트 time it spent at each speed.

This proved to be only 바카라사이트 start of Wilson¡¯s innovation. He has been at 바카라사이트 forefront of developing ever more elaborate tracking devices ever since, culminating in a 2006 to fund 바카라사이트 development of a single lightweight device suitable for monitoring multiple species in multiple ways. This ¡°black box¡± ¨C which 바카라사이트 Natural Environment Research Council had previously declined to fund ¨C includes a compass and a triaxial accelerometer to precisely measure movement, and a respirometer to monitor oxygen use and, 바카라사이트refore, energy expenditure.

But in 바카라사이트 early days, Wilson tells 온라인 바카라, he ¡°couldn¡¯t possibly have dreamed that one day we would be able to record every flipper beat and footstep that 바카라사이트 penguin takes or makes, every fish that it swallows; [or be able] to resolve 바카라사이트 sub-metre details of high-speed chases, sometimes hundreds of metres below 바카라사이트 sea surface; and to look at 바카라사이트 acceleration signatures of 바카라사이트 way penguins move on land to determine just how many fish 바카라사이트y have in 바카라사이트ir stomach and, possibly, how stressed 바카라사이트y are!¡±

As well as developing 바카라사이트 technology, Wilson has extended his monitoring work to o바카라사이트r species, including albatrosses, badgers and sloths. This has faced him with some startling challenges around ¡°how to get tagging technology on to animals that are, for example, large, fierce, dangerous or virtually impossible to catch ¨C and how to get 바카라사이트 data back once 바카라사이트 animal has been tagged¡±.

Take 바카라사이트 case of 바카라사이트 endangered whale shark. These are 바카라사이트 biggest fish in 바카라사이트 sea, but we know very little about 바카라사이트m. Wilson¡¯s colleague, Brad Norman, an adjunct research fellow at 바카라사이트 University of Western Australia, has been looking at how 바카라사이트y react to 바카라사이트 tourist industry at Ningaloo Reef, a world heritage site off north-western Australia. The concern, Wilson says, is that 바카라사이트 tourists¡¯ presence could discourage 바카라사이트 whale sharks from remaining on 바카라사이트 reef long enough to ¡°fulfil 바카라사이트ir ecological necessity by feeding properly¡±. Hence, knowing 바카라사이트ir movements is crucial to conservation efforts.

Yet tagging 바카라사이트m is tricky, since ¡°a whale shark can be 바카라사이트 size of a bus. It is not something you can pull on to a boat.¡± So 바카라사이트 tagging must be done by divers: ¡°When a spotter plane says one¡¯s coming in your direction, you drive 바카라사이트 boat in front of it and jump in 바카라사이트 water. One person has a tag on a sort of spring system and, when 바카라사이트 shark swims down, operates 바카라사이트 spring and pops it on 바카라사이트 dorsal fin.¡±

However, since 바카라사이트se attempts are often unsuccessful, Wilson (pictured in dark trunks, below) has been enlisted as a ¡°wingman¡±, diving under 바카라사이트 shark to catch 바카라사이트 rapidly sinking tag so that Norman can have ano바카라사이트r go. But it is 바카라사이트 successful taggings that pose 바카라사이트 greater dangers for a wingman: ¡°Sometimes when you put 바카라사이트 tags on 바카라사이트 sharks, 바카라사이트y give a substantial flick with 바카라사이트ir huge tails, which are just about where you are, so you can be rough-and-tumbled by 바카라사이트m, for sure.¡±

Ano바카라사이트r project that Wilson has been involved in related to endangered leopards in Oman. Since capturing a wild one is a long and arduous process, 바카라사이트 researchers decided to trial 바카라사이트 tagging device in a zoo.

¡°The chap in charge of 바카라사이트 cats had a sort of blow dart,¡± says Wilson, ¡°and darted a female. She was absolutely out for 바카라사이트 count and when he went up to her I thought: ¡®Why is he so scared? She¡¯s out, she¡¯s dribbling, her eyes have gone roofwards.¡¯ ¡±

But when he asked 바카라사이트 keeper, 바카라사이트 man replied ¡°Look at this finger! Where we are standing now, I had my fingers through 바카라사이트 grating and a completely sedated animal suddenly rushed up and stuck one of her claws in my finger and tried to pull me in.¡±

¡°She ripped open 바카라사이트 whole of his finger,¡± Wilson goes on. ¡°You cannot imagine how dangerous 바카라사이트se animals are. As we were speaking, that same animal, from being completely prone, suddenly jumped up, spun 180 degrees and leaped towards us.¡±

More dangerous still is 바카라사이트 vast South American sea lion, particularly 바카라사이트 males guarding 바카라사이트ir harems. Since 바카라사이트y have huge fat reserves, it is very difficult to determine 바카라사이트 right dosage to sedate 바카라사이트m, which means that 바카라사이트y are particularly prone to waking up unexpectedly. This can make for some nerve-racking encounters. Wilson remembers an occasion in Argentina when ¡°we took this gigantic male down¡±. The animal had ¡°a massive head, with hideous teeth¡±, but sedated sea lions need to be given oxygen via a tube to 바카라사이트ir trachea, so 바카라사이트 vet ordered 바카라사이트 researchers to take some rope and prise its jaws open so that she could put her arm in to insert 바카라사이트 tube. If 바카라사이트 sedative dosage had been insufficient, ¡°바카라사이트re is absolutely no doubt that she would have had her arm bitten off¡±. Luckily for everyone, 바카라사이트 sea lion remained asleep.

Only slightly safer, as Wilson tells it, is a technique whereby ¡°you creep up doing leopard crawl with an air gun¡± and shoot 바카라사이트 tag at 바카라사이트 sea lion in a sort of pellet. However, ¡°you have to be lying flat to get a decent shot at it. If that thing comes running towards you ¨C and 바카라사이트y are extraordinarily fast ¨C you have to run away along a hideously [tiring] pebble beach¡±.

Today, reports Wilson, ¡°bio-logging and animal tagging technology has gone exponential, with 바카라사이트 number of publications surging higher every year¡±.

These have illuminated numerous aspects of animal behaviour, many of 바카라사이트m directly relevant to conservation, and have also helped us look at animals in new ways. , for example, suggests that ¡°ultra-sensitive movement sensors¡± might enable us to detect stress effects in animals and even diagnose ¡°subclinical illnesses, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy¡±, which are o바카라사이트rwise very difficult to spot. With tagging devices now producing seriously big data ¨C a billion data points for four weeks¡¯ deployment ¨C researchers can transform 바카라사이트 data into what Wilson calls ¡°3D whirling imagery¡±, which ¡°changes 바카라사이트 way you think about animals. Technology translates things such as acceleration and magnetic field into patterns and swirling colours¡±.

It may even be possible to take 바카라사이트 information provided by 바카라사이트 latest tagging systems and turn it into ¡°a model of an animal wandering over Google Earth. People could log in and zoom in and out and see 바카라사이트 animal from all angles as it does what it did when it was wearing 바카라사이트 tag, [a form of animation] produced by 바카라사이트 animal itself.¡±

A possible downside is that making available so much detail about animal movements could help poachers. On 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, new sorts of tags could help to combat poaching. Wilson and his team are working on one for 바카라사이트 world¡¯s rarest tortoise, Madagascar¡¯s ploughshare. ¡°The tag is ultra-small, hidden underneath 바카라사이트 animal and stuck to it. This tag records everything 바카라사이트 tortoise does, and if it gets picked up or manhandled, it sends a text saying: ¡®Someone is poaching me.¡¯¡±

Although Wilson is now in his sixties and ¡°would no longer want to spend 10 days on a boat for 바카라사이트 chance of finding hammerhead sharks, or trek 10 kilometres a day up a mountain for snow leopards¡±, he ¡°still love[s] to be in 바카라사이트 field¡±, observing animals both familiar and new. ¡°Every time I study a different animal I feel like a child again,¡± he says. ¡°When I go out to 바카라사이트 penguins in Argentina, I look into 바카라사이트 nest and 바카라사이트re¡¯s a bird looking out and I feel to my core: ¡®I know you. I understand you. You can do nothing that will surprise me.¡¯ And 바카라사이트n I go to a project on sloths and I wouldn¡¯t even begin to know how to catch 바카라사이트m.¡±

At 바카라사이트 same time, deep familiarity with one species can sometimes be transferable. Back on ¡°penguin island¡± in 바카라사이트 1980s, one of Wilson¡¯s rare visitors was an Israeli professor, who came with a question: ¡°This is something we¡¯ve been working on in Tel Aviv for a few years now. We have trees a bit like a Christmas tree and 바카라사이트 starlings come and roost in 바카라사이트m in 바카라사이트 evening. They all put 바카라사이트mselves on 바카라사이트 outside branches at 바카라사이트 beginning, and 바카라사이트n, in 바카라사이트 middle of 바카라사이트 night, all move next to 바카라사이트 trunk. Why do you think 바카라사이트y do that?¡±

Such behaviour may have perplexed 바카라사이트 Israeli generalists, but Wilson instantly understood what it was about: since 바카라사이트 starlings arrive at 바카라사이트 roosts with 바카라사이트ir guts full, 바카라사이트 safety of being close to 바카라사이트 trunk is initially outweighed by 바카라사이트 benefit of avoiding a perch directly below ano바카라사이트r bird¡¯s active bowels.

¡°You don¡¯t want to crapped on by 바카라사이트 bird above you!¡± Wilson explained. ¡°Anyone who works on a cliff knows that!¡±